The septuplets born in November brought joy to Iowa, but doctors in Britain are not pleased by the news. Why? Because of fertility drugs, report Chris Mihill and Sarah Boseley The seven little McCaugheys would not have known, but they were making good-news headlines across the world last month: the second-known set of septuplets ever […]

Ferial Haffajee : Design of the week Kudos this week to the Beyond Awareness Campaign for taking an international symbol and making it local. A community development project called Ilala Weavers in Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal, has taken the international symbol of the fight against Aids – the red ribbon – and recast it as a Zulu […]

Angella Johnson Senior black managers in the South African Police Service (SAPS) warned this week that they are no longer prepared to accept widespread and endemic racism from white colleagues, and would strike if necessary to force the police to stamp out racism. Officers from national and provincial police structures met on November 2 to […]

Lizeka Mda If there were still “Whites Only” signs in South Africa, most people would be outraged. Yet practically the whole physical environment in the country says “Able-bodied only” as it deliberately shuts out a fair percentage of the population. Disabled South Africans are denied a full life because they have minimal access to education, […]

Gustav Thiel Mojalefa Murphy, one of South Africa’s most senior black nuclear physicists, has won the first round in a dispute with the Atomic Energy Corporation (AEC). This week, the Pretoria High Court ruled that Murphy was entitled to have an independent mediator preside over a disciplinary hearing the AEC is holding against him. The […]

The TRC Special Report is slim on resources but big on ideas, writes Gustav Thiel The team responsible for television’s award-winning TRC Special Report is watching the latest edition of their programme at the Brixton, Johannesburg home of one of the producers. Situated just under the SABC’s huge transmission tower, the room is quiet as […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi General Bantu Holomisa’s newly formed United Democratic Movement (UDM) this week held an intense meeting with former Transkei ruler Chief Kaizer Mantanzima and his brothers George and Ngangomhlaba in the rural village of Qamata to solicit their support as the party begins its preparations for the 1999 rural elections. The meeting forms part […]

Stefaans Brmmer A United States-based human rights organisation claims that South Africans have been deeply involved in the underground supply of arms and military assistance to warring parties in Burundi. It says senior government and African National Congress officials may have given the “green light” to such transactions, without actively participating. The allegations are contained […]

An impressive South African collection of Buddhist art is to be sold off, writes Lorraine Pace A collection of irreplaceable Buddhist art, dating from the third century to the present day, is in danger of being broken up and lost to South Africa. Were these Christian artefacts, there would probably be an uproar. But there […]

Anton Harber : A Second Look Anyone concerned with the issues of good governance should take note of last week’s departure from office of the Director General of the Department of Welfare, Leila Patel. Patel finished work last Friday with little media attention. But when a director general with a solid reputation departs prematurely from […]